Sabbatical from politics, says Laxmi Ratan Shukla after controversial Facebook post

Minister of state for sports in Bengal, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, had resigned from Trinamool Congress earlier this week, expressing his wish to resign from Trinamool Congress. He had however said that he would complete his tenure as member of the Legislative Assembly.

While there were talks that Shukla is soon to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Laxmi Ratan Shukla himself had said that he is stepping down because he wants to devote more time to sports. On Thursday, the former cricketer of the national team wrote a Facebook post with the words: “A true leader/captain not only plays, but also makes his team play. Thank you for this lovely painting my friend”. It was a tribute to Saurav Ganguly, who was discharged from hospital earlier in the day.

Along with the words, he shared a water colour painting of two cricketers playing – which were of Saurav Ganguly and Laxmi Ratan Shukla. It is not clear who painted it, but the post has been a matter of discussion, as many read between the lines and felt it is a message for Mamata Banerjee. Did Laxmi Ratan Shukla mean that he has some grievances against Banerjee that he was trying to say through this message while extolling Saurav as his leader on the cricketing field?

Later in the day, Shukla held a press conference in which he clarified that he was going to stay away from politics “for now”. It was not however clear for how long this sabbatical would last. Asked whom he wanted to see as the next CM of West Bengal, Shukla said that Banerjee had won earlier due to her hard work and in the next election, the party that worked best would win, but refused to commit on whether his allegiances would remain with Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress.